Roots and Oxygen

Chapter 76 - Mend Fences

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- Sian

Packing the car was the easiest part of the day. Choosing the guards who would move with them was Taro's job. Most of them volunteered, and everyone who had last visited the cottage wanted to follow them north too. One guard even knelt by Sage's feet and pledged to serve him forever. Sage had flushed with embarrassment, and thanked him quickly, so he would get up.

More guards than they needed volunteered to travel with them. Sage was honoured, but he couldn't house almost fifty. "We will come in the spring, then," a guard said. "When we can sleep in our plant forms in your garden."

Sage couldn't say no, so he agreed to see them again next year. As he and Taro waited for Sage's parents to surface for a goodbye, a white range rover with pink rims pulled up beside them. Sage knew who it belonged to before the doors even opened. Taro stiffened next to him when Lady Liniana jumped out, landing on black heeled boots laced up to her knees. A dark green patterned dress fell just above them. Her outfit was one Sage would have usually complimented, if their last encounter hadn't broken her heart.

She peeled her large sunglasses off, staring at Taro with curiosity. "Hey," she greeted. "I had a feeling you would leave today, Sage. I saw the papers this morning about Oxley." Her blue eyes flicked between them. "Do you have time to talk?"

Sage had last seen her on the night when everything went wrong. Her parents, or Liniana, had set him up for long weeks of abuse from the tabloids. The guilt washed over him, until he remembered that he had done nothing wrong. "Okay," he said, choosing to ignore Taro's tiny scowl. "Taro, could you-"

"No," Liniana interrupted, "I want him to be here too." She took the lead, and they followed her over to one of the garden tables and chairs- with legs of metal-shaped roses and vines. They each sat on a chair, watching one another, hoping to keep the conversation civil. "I haven't been in touch because I really did love you," she admitted, keeping her words straight to the point. "This might sound big-headed, but I really couldn't understand why you would have turned me down. I felt like I had done something wrong, or that I wasn't pretty enough, or skinny enough for you, or . . . I had just started to blame myself. But then that picture came out of you, and of Taro. Then I realised that neither of us were to blame, and I had been harsh on you, and on myself." She pursed her lips, staring longingly at Sage. "Why didn't you tell me you were gay?"

Sage had remembered thinking that when Liniana left with tears in her eyes, that he would never be brave enough to be his true self. Taro kept saying that one day she would understand the rejection. He slipped his hand under the table to curl fingers around Taro's hand. "I'm leaving because my brother outed me to the world, and my mum avoids me because she hates Taro, and her family also hate me, and most of the staff here are using the news as a game to sell as many pictures as they can of me and Taro to the press. I didn't tell you I was gay because I couldn't even cope with the thought of my parents finding out. And you've surely read the papers? For every positive one there's five homophobic journalists thriving on tearing me down. We were good friends, but I couldn't trust you with a secret that big."

Liniana nodded slowly. "I'm so sorry Oxley did that to you."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner that I wasn't interested."

"I'm sorry my parents told the press about what happened between us."

"I'm sorry I waited until you were in love with me to break your heart."